The Frenchman spent seven years with the Gunners and came up against the dyed-in-the-wool Liverpudlian in the Premier League on countless occasions.

Henry told Liverpool's official website: "When Carragher retires, it will be a sad day for any Liverpool fan and for anyone who likes the game.

"The memory that I have of him is someone who was loyal and committed. You will always remember him as a Liverpool player because that's the only team he played for.

"I have had incredible battles against him. I lost some and I won some but they were always fair and always hard. He's a competitor.

"For me, he will go down as one of the top five. If you talk about how long he has played for Liverpool and what he won there and what type of player he was, he will go down in history as one of the greatest in the history of the league."

Readers' Comments

I

t's wrong to be making a joke out of Bender's name at the expense of gay people. It's the kind of childish, uncivilised thing that Football365 would deride and ridicule if it was another media outlet saying. Why is there a need for jokes like this? Does it make your writers feel like men? F365 might suggest that I 'lighten up', but it is genuinely traumatic for people who have been oppressed all their lives to be the butt of jokes, and to be told...

ou can't blame De Gea for wanting to leave, he has enough to do in front of goal as it is as well as taking on the role of Man Utd's version of Derek Acorah in trying to contact and organise a defence that isn't there.